Owners of electric vehicle charged up over blocked stations

Sales of hybrid and all-electric vehicles are expected to climb this year, with SustainableBusiness.com predicting they will grab 14 percent of the 2013 automotive market. Virtually every car manufacturer has at least one hybrid or EV model for sale, and Toyota has four in the Prius family. Indeed, SustainableBusiness.com says Prius has hit the big time--it is now the third top selling vehicle in the world.

But people still worry about how far they can drive on a charge and if charging stations are near enough when they need to "fill up." It is particularly worrisome to EV owners who don't have the option of switching over to gasoline as hybrid owners do.

Los Gatos has four charging station locations: the Elm Street and Grays Lane parking lots, next to the library at the civic center and near the post office on N. Santa Cruz Avenue.

New data indicates their use is increasing significantly. An analysis of the data provided by the town shows the stations generated 458 kilowatt hours of usage in June 2012, climbing to a high of 1,148 kWh in October and remaining pretty steady at 1,136 kWh in November and 1,138 kWh in December.

It costs $2.50 per use to plug into a Los Gatos charging station.

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Couple increased charging station usage with the predicted increase in vehicle sales, and you have a recipe for yet another parking controversy in Los Gatos. That's because Los Gatos' charging stations are not exclusive--internal combustion engine vehicles, known by the industry acronym ICE, can park in those spots, too. The town council purposely structured it that way because members did not want to reduce the number of parking spaces available to all vehicles in town.

Enter Bryan Mekechuk, who plans to ask the council to put the issue on a future meeting agenda. He owns a Nissan Leaf EV, and until recently, he would bring the car to town to charge because his home did not have the appropriate plug-in. Mekechuk's wife, Jo-Anne, regularly uses the Leaf to get to work in Sunnyvale.

"Jo-Anne came home from work recently and went to Grays Lane to charge," Mekechuk said. "There was a Chevy Volt in one spot and a pick-up in the other. Then she went to Elm Street and there were no hybrid or EV vehicles charging, but all the spots were being used so she came home."

At about 10 p.m. that same night, Jan. 15, Mekechuk returned to town in search of a charge. "The parking lots were all empty by then, but I saw the pick-up driver getting ready to leave and I asked him, 'Do you know this is for EV?' His reply was, 'Yeah, so what?' When I explained I can't charge if he's blocking the spot he said, 'I know' and just smiled at me."

Mekechuk says with the evolution of the EV/hybrid market, he hopes the town's parking policy can evolve as well. "We need to start dedicating spots--not all of them, but we need a path to better EV accessibility," Mekechuk said. "Of the three spots at Elm, make one dedicated and make one of the two spots at Grays dedicated."

Mekechuk says he's not alone. On Jan. 30, he says, Leaf owner Paul Navaboour stopped in Los Gatos for a charge en route to Santa Cruz from Palo Alto. "He only had nine miles of range when he arrived in town," Mekechuk said. "He used his charging location map on the Leaf and went to the Grays Lane charging spots, which were occupied by one EV and one ICE. Then, he went to Elm Street and waited a few minutes until a spot came open. He plugged in and went for a quick snack at a local place."

Spending money in town is what local officials and merchants like to hear.

Mekechuk says he spends plenty of money in Los Gatos since he is a property owner there, too. "I spend all my money in Los Gatos because there's nowhere to spend it in Monte Sereno," he said.

So, he will go before the council as a "hybrid" resident in hopes of setting the stage for another round of parking roulette.